General Duty Act of 1761
The General Duty Act was passed in July 1761 and it encouraged mass immigration to South Carolina between 1761 and 1768. The exact wording of the Act is missing from the published volumes of South Carolina colonial legislation; however, a copy was published in 1761 in THE SOUTH CAROLINA GAZETTE newspaper as follows:
In the Commons House of Assembly, the 25th
Day of July 1761.
ORDERED, That the Act, entitled "An Act for repealing 'An Act Passed the 7th Day of October, in the Year of our Lord 1752, for altering and amending the 6th and 7th Paragraphs of the Act commonly called THE GENERAL DUTY ACT; and for appropriating and applying three-fifths of the Tax appropriated and applied by the said 6th and 7th Paragraphs of the said last mentioned Act, as is herein after mentioned' be printed in both of the Gazettes of this Province: And, that the Clerk of this House do give each of the Printers a Copy of the said Act for that purpose.
THOMAS BRONLEY, Clerk
of the Commons House of Assembly
WHEREAS the encouragement heretofore given
to poor protestants to become settlers in this province, hath not had the
desired effect; and inasmuch as there remained in the treasury on the twenty
ninth day of September last, of the tax appropriated by the general duty law for
that purpose, a sum of FIFTY-SEVEN THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED, AND SEVENTY-FIVE
POUNDS, ELEVEN SHILLINGS, AND THREE PENCE, whereby the public is enabled to
increase the bounty to such settlers which may best answer the said good
intentions, We therefore humbly pray his most sacred Majesty, that it may be
enacted, and be it enacted by the Honourable WILLIAM BULL; Esquire, Lieutenant-Governour
and Commander in Chief of the Province of South-Carolina, by and with the advice
and consent of his Majesty's Council, and the Commons House of Assembly of the
said province, and by the authority of the same, That the said Three-fifths of
tax, appropriated and applied by the said law as an encouragement to protestants
to become settlers in this province, shall henceforth be and is hereby
appropriated and applied in the following manner, that is to say, FOR PAYMENT OF
THE SUM OF FOUR POUNDS STERLING, or the value thereof in the current money of
this province, to discharge and defray THE EXPENSE OF THE PASSAGE FROM EUROPE OF
EVERY FREE POOR PROTESTANT WHO HATH NOT ALREADY RECEIVED ANY BOUNTY FROM THIS
PROVINCE, AND WHO SHALL ARRIVE IN THIS PROVINCE TO SETTLE, FROM EUROPE, WITHIN
THREE YEARS FROM THE TINE OF PASSING THIS ACT, ABOVE THE AGE OF TWELVE YEARS;
AND WHO SHALL IN CASE THEY COME FROM GREAT-BRITAIN OR IRELAND, PRODUCE A
CERTIFICATE UNDER THE SEAL OF
And be it further enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That the money hereby directed to be paid for the passages of the
said poor protestants, shall be paid by the Public-Treasurer of this province,
to the owner or master of the vessel in which they shall be brought into this
province, unless he shall previously be paid by such poor protestants, to whom
respectively, in such case, the same shall be paid; That the other bounty
aforesaid shall be paid to the said poor FREE protestants, upon their demanding
the same.
And be it further enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That the said act, passed the seventh day of October, in the year of
our Lord 1752, for altering and amending the sixth and seventh paragraphs of the
Act commonly called THE GENERAL DUTY ACT; And also the said sixth and seventh
paragraphs of the said other act, commonly called the General Duty Act, as far
as the same relate to the applying and appropriating the said Three-fifths of
the tax thereby imposed on Negroes, and other slaves, and every matter and thing
therein contained, be, from and after the passing of this act, absolutely
repealed and vacated, to all intents and purposes whatsoever.
In the Council Chamber, the 25th day of
July, 1761.
BENJ. SMITH, Speaker.
Assented to: WILLIAM BULL